rickythepenguin:of course, bieng fake, no one wants them. people would rather pay the DeBeers cartel X amount of money for a product inferior to a man-made diamond. weird.

I looked pretty hard for man made diamonds when I was engagement ring shopping. Both me and the future Mrs Howell would have been just as happy with one. For a diamond meeting my requirements, a mined diamond from Blue Nile was cheaper than what I found from man made sources. Had I wanted higher clarity, cared less about color, or wanted a different size stone, man-made might have won that race, but they didn't quite make it for me.

As for complaining about the prices at brick-and-mortar jewelry stores, I won't argue. Those guys are ripoff artists. Diamonds are not unique in that respect. Compare titanium rings online to ones at a jewelry store and you'll see what I mean.

rickythepenguin:literally "even better than the real thing" that no one wants to buy.

OK, now you're repeating this. They are capable of offering a product that is a miracle of science and unequivocally better than what can be dug out of the ground, and no one wants to buy it because, presumably, they hate money and Africans. Do you really believe that?

I assume that it would be cheaper is implied, because everyone keeps saying diamonds are an overpriced scam. If they're an overpriced scam, a more expensive competitor would be expected to fail for obvious reasons.

rickythepenguin:exvaxman: there is a lab in Tampa that produces gem quality diamonds, but very small.

yeah, i kinda remember rogan saying that; artificial diamonds are nothing new, but the lab in Russia can make them gem size, versus the smaller indistrial size. i don't know the science but Ol' Ivan can make some freaking boulders, apparently.

and it was so "top secret", they wouldn't let him bring his iPhone, for fear of location tracking. actually, i'm not sure if it was rogan or a guest, but whomever it was on his podcast, said they had to get metal-detected to esnure they weren't using a GPS to get tot he facility, and then they had blackout curtains on the limo or bus. super top secret shiat. and for what? big ass gem quality diamonds, literally "even better than the real thing" that no one wants to buy.

I won't by natural diamonds. I would buy jewelry using synthetic diamonds, if it was available. So far all I've seen is stuff in crappy settings.

I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

It's a testament to marketing that this stuff retains any 'mystique' at all. There are enough diamonds existing today that they could put them as cereal box prizes and they'd never get rid of them. The managed scarcities are all that keep the illusion of real value alive.

Buttknuckle:I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Nana's Vibrator:fickenchucker: I told my girlfriend back in '89 not to expect any diamonds, since they're an overpriced scam. She did insist on a reasonable and acceptable-quality one for the engagement ring, but damaged it twice and then got it stolen.

We took the insurance money and paid some bills, bought a nice metal-only band, and called it a day.

Still married, still have all my money, and she still appreciates not having to be super-careful with that metal band.

If you want a blue diamond and aren't rich, lab grown ones are available for around the cost of colorless mined diamonds. It beats paying 10x more for a mined one though and the only differences are in the grading report it will say lab grown and some very specific tests will show it lab grown. I know D.NEA and Chatham are two of the main companies selling the lab grown blues.

Buttknuckle:I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Engagement rings have been a thing for a very long time. Like, since the Roman Empire long. Then, in 1947, a marketing genius came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" for DeBeers. Toss in the "two-month's salary" thing shortly after that, and you're got the basics of the story.

For more marketing genius, see: The trinity ring (why buy one diamond when you can buy three?) and the eternity ring (diamonds everywhere!).

Buttknuckle:I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Josu:<b>TFA</b>: ...<i>and could "yield a polished stone of great value and importance,"</i>

No. No it could not. Want to get some value out of it? Use it for diamond-tipped drill bits.

This is true if you do not like money. If you do like money, you should probably cut and polish it, set it in something nice, and sell that. If you prefer proving points to making money, I guess that's your thing. Given the choice, I'd take the money any day.

thurstonxhowell:Buttknuckle: I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Engagement rings have been a thing for a very long time. Like, since the Roman Empire long. Then, in 1947, a marketing genius came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" for DeBeers. Toss in the "two-month's salary" thing shortly after that, and you're got the basics of the story.

For more marketing genius, see: The trinity ring (why buy one diamond when you can buy three?) and the eternity ring (diamonds everywhere!).

Yeah, but there seriously has to be more to it than that, right? I truly just don't get it.I could give a rat's ass if I ever have a diamond. I find it really hard to believe that if I had a vagina I would feel any different.

thurstonxhowell:Josu: <b>TFA</b>: ...<i>and could "yield a polished stone of great value and importance,"</i>

No. No it could not. Want to get some value out of it? Use it for diamond-tipped drill bits.

This is true if you do not like money. If you do like money, you should probably cut and polish it, set it in something nice, and sell that. If you prefer proving points to making money, I guess that's your thing. Given the choice, I'd take the money any day.

Buttknuckle:thurstonxhowell: Buttknuckle: I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Engagement rings have been a thing for a very long time. Like, since the Roman Empire long. Then, in 1947, a marketing genius came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" for DeBeers. Toss in the "two-month's salary" thing shortly after that, and you're got the basics of the story.

For more marketing genius, see: The trinity ring (why buy one diamond when you can buy three?) and the eternity ring (diamonds everywhere!).

Yeah, but there seriously has to be more to it than that, right? I truly just don't get it.I could give a rat's ass if I ever have a diamond. I find it really hard to believe that if I had a vagina I would feel any different.

Women all started shaving because razor companies told them their hairy bodies were gross. It's just how advertising works. Then it later gets rolled into a cultural identity and here we are.

Josu:Buttknuckle: I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Buttknuckle:thurstonxhowell: Buttknuckle: I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

Engagement rings have been a thing for a very long time. Like, since the Roman Empire long. Then, in 1947, a marketing genius came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" for DeBeers. Toss in the "two-month's salary" thing shortly after that, and you're got the basics of the story.

For more marketing genius, see: The trinity ring (why buy one diamond when you can buy three?) and the eternity ring (diamonds everywhere!).

Yeah, but there seriously has to be more to it than that, right? I truly just don't get it.I could give a rat's ass if I ever have a diamond. I find it really hard to believe that if I had a vagina I would feel any different.

The marketing is driven by cultural tradition.

The prices are driven by artificially restricted supply. Diamonds are plentiful in certain areas of Africa. De Beers owns those areas and defends them vigorously. They collude with other suppliers (like Soviet Russia, for a time) to keep the market supply lower than demand, which drives up prices.

"Conflict Diamonds" are not produced by De Beers. They are mined by rebels and unscrupulous African governments to subsidize their internal wars. By giving conflict diamonds a stigma, De Beers benefits because this tamps down on suppliers that don't work through De Beers.

There's a nice Diamond sitting on Venus. The American Pioneer probe that landed on Venus had a diamond window on the atmospheric probe they used as a super strong, optically clear window for the Spectrophotometer for scanning atmospheric composition as it descended. Basically took a big ass diamond, cut it into a flat slab and polished it. It soft landed, because of the awesome atmospheric density it was like it was descending through water. Didn't have a camera onboard, tho.

exvaxman:rickythepenguinAs memory serves, there is a lab in Tampa that produces gem quality diamonds, but very small. The cartel has spent millions developing a scanner to determine "mined" vs. Synthetic diamonds, as if anybody (outside of potential wives biatchy skanks) cares.

A sapphire is just a blue ruby, but not to be confused with the song "Ruby Blue".

Carborundum comes in red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orangish-pinkish, and even clear. Only the red ones are called ruby. The other colours are all sapphires, IIRC, except the orange-pink ones which have a special name Padparadscha, which means lotus colour (pink lotus, obviously).

Shadow Blasko:miniflea: Is this the thread where I pop in and say I bought my wife an amethyst engagement ring because her favorite color is purple?

Something wrong with a nice alexandrite?

Not unless you count me being unaware of it. She likes amethyst, was happy with her ring, and we are happy with each other, which is more than can be said for some guys I know who paid ten times what I did for the rings they bought.

trappedspirit:Well if it isn't the captain of the glee club. There's other lines of discussion going on here besides the blood diamond angle. Ones I believe have been born out of

A) Never having been given a diamondB) Giving a diamond and having it walk out of your lifeC) Getting a diamond that is now sitting in a pawn shop

Those are all part of the scam. Women get raised like little magpies and told repeatedly that he doesn't love you if he doesn't drop an increasing fraction of his earnings into a bauble that they can show off to their friends. What are we at now 33% of a yearly salary?

rickythepenguin:i remember joe rogan podcast recently, where he went to some top secret lab in Russia where they perfected artificial diamonds. i guess real diamonds have microscopic flaws or chipped edges, etc., but this lab makes fake diamonds with zero flaws.

of course, bieng fake, no one wants them. people would rather pay the DeBeers cartel X amount of money for a product inferior to a man-made diamond. weird.

when we got engaged my wife insisted on a diamond, but we / she didn't go nuts. i think .6 carat. not sure. not very big. ran me about a $1000. no small amount mind you, but, not a 3 carat boulder. now of course she's like, "diamonds are stupid, we should have just saved the money". and she doesn't even wear it. well, every now and then, on special ocasions but not much in day to day life.

My engagement ring has a simulated diamond. I thought it was ridiculous to pay for a real diamond when I could pretty much the exact same thing for a tenth of the price.

I designed the ring and setting myself and we had a lot of trouble finding a jeweler who would set the stone. Two of them bailed out when they found out it wasn't a real diamond (we just said we already had the stone). One place, the saleswoman started freaking out, saying "we can't have that in the store!!" and practically pushed us out the door. I kept asking why, she couldn't really explain was sort of saying they were afraid they would get it mixed up with a real diamond and wouldn't be able to tell the difference. One salesman asked why I would want something that wasn't dug out of the ground.

We eventually found a nice independent jeweler who said "no problem" and just asked that we be responsible for the stone, since he wasn't sure exactly what he was working with and didn't not how it would react to heat. We were fine with that.

"Conflict Diamonds" are not produced by De Beers. They are mined by rebels and unscrupulous African governments to subsidize their internal wars. By giving conflict diamonds a stigma, De Beers benefits because this tamps down on suppliers that don't work through De Beers.

Except that DeBeers has been repeatedly connected to wholesale purchase of conflict diamonds, and has provided weapons and funding to the warlords who control those mines in exchange for those warlords product. DeBeers has as much blood on it's hands as any Central West African butcher.

JackieRabbit:Diamonds are indeed over-priced. One must know something about gem stones to appreciate just how unique diamonds really are. Most people know them by the crap stones sold in the average mall jewelry store and have never seen an internally flawless, pure white stone. When you look into them with a loupe, you see a kaleidoscope of color and perfect geometry. But they aren't the most expensive of stones. Pigeon blood rubies form Sri Lanka are far more expensive carat-for-carat than diamonds.

I'd much prefer a pigeon blood ruby, if only because a nicely colored stone is prettier. Garnet would do if it was a nice shade. I don't quite get the appeal of a colorless stone. But that is just me. I like something if it appeals to me, and not because someone tells me I'm supposed to like it or because it's something everyone else likes.

Rings from jewellers shops are overpriced, no shiat, so is just about everthing bought new. You wont get back what you paid for your car even if you only just drove it off the lot that morning. Or your tv if you sell it secondhand. Why would anyone expect that selling jewellery secondhand would get you anything remotely like what you paid for it? Better start looking into getting antiques if you want things to increase in value with age.

Blue diamonds aren't rare. The size is what makes this rare. My wedding band has 10 small blue diamonds on it and we bought it for $400 in St. Thomas. The appraisal here estimated it at $2400 because our local people are dumb and assumed blue diamonds were more rare than they actually are.

And of course I don't wear either my engagement or wedding band anymore. After a year of scratching the white gold to hell I went and bought a $15 sterling silver band. The rings sit in our safety deposit box now. Such a waste of money.

I gave my wife a pendant of 'Fine Pewter' and 'a genuine Faux pearl when I asked her to marry me. I masturbated that night....and the night after that....and the night after that....and the (sigh) night after that.Just get her a diamond and get right to the vag

Eerily Familiar:I am extremely disappointed in this thread. I expected to see some references to Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Blue Carbuncle" and perhaps a few comebacks using the medical meaning of carbuncle.

Well, I came to this thread to ask if it was found inside a goose's crop. Sorry I'm late.

Buttknuckle:I would really like to learn the history of how diamonds came to be a "thing". Sure, I can understand it if you are interested in stones or geology, but not for the average person. Whoever was able to create this market and turn it into what it is today is a genius and one of the best businessmen the world has seen so far.

DeBeers and the other cartels of diamonds made diamonds popular the world over.As many diamonds that are released for sale each year, there are many more stored for the future.It is called a monopoly in other words.

JackieRabbit:Diamonds are indeed over-priced. One must know something about gem stones to appreciate just how unique diamonds really are. Most people know them by the crap stones sold in the average mall jewelry store and have never seen an internally flawless, pure white stone. When you look into them with a loupe, you see a kaleidoscope of color and perfect geometry. But they aren't the most expensive of stones. Pigeon blood rubies form Sri Lanka are far more expensive carat-for-carat than diamonds.